As early as the sixteenth century, Germans played a bluffing game called "Pochen." It
later developed into a French version, ⚾️ called "Poque," which was eventually brought
over to New Orleans and played on the riverboats that plied the Mississippi.
In the
⚾️ 1830s, the game was refined further and became known as Poker. During the Civil War,
the key rule about drawing ⚾️ cards to improve one's hand was added. A variation - Stud
Poker - appeared at about the same time. There ⚾️ are hundreds of versions of Poker, and
the game is played not only in private homes, but also in countless ⚾️ Poker rooms at
famous casinos. Poker can be played socially for pennies or matchsticks, or
professionally for thousands of dollars.
There ⚾️ is plenty of luck in Poker, but the game
requires incredibly great skill as well, and each player is the ⚾️ master of his own
fate.
The Pack
The standard 52-card pack, sometimes with the addition of one or two
jokers, is used. ⚾️ Poker is a one-pack game, but today, in virtually all games played in
clubs and among the best players, two ⚾️ packs of contrasting colors are utilized in order
to speed up the game. While one pack is being dealt, the ⚾️ other is being shuffled and
prepared for the next deal. The procedure for two packs is as follows: While the ⚾️ deal
is in progress, the previous dealer assembles all the cards from the pack he dealt,
shuffles them, and places ⚾️ them to the left. When it is time for the next deal, the
shuffled deck is passed to the next ⚾️ dealer. In many games in which two packs are used,
the dealer's left-hand opponent, instead of the right-hand opponent, cuts ⚾️ the pack.
In
clubs, it is customary to change cards often and to permit any player to call for new
cards ⚾️ whenever they wish. When new cards are introduced, both packs are replaced, and
the seal and cellophane wrapping on the ⚾️ new decks should be broken in full view of all
the players.
Card Values/scoring
While Poker is played in innumerable forms, a ⚾️ player
who understands the values of the Poker hands and the principles of betting can play
without difficulty in any ⚾️ type of Poker game. Except in a few versions of the game, a
Poker hand consists of five cards. The ⚾️ various combinations of Poker hands rank from
five of a kind (the highest) to no pair or nothing (the lowest):
Five ⚾️ of a Kind – This
is the highest possible hand and can occur only in games where at least one ⚾️ card is
wild, such as a joker, the two one-eyed jacks, or the four deuces. Examples of five of
a ⚾️ kind would be four 10s and a wild card or two queens and three wild cards.
Straight
Flush – This is ⚾️ the highest possible hand when only the standard pack is used, and
there are no wild cards. A straight flush ⚾️ consists of five cards of the same suit in
sequence, such as 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 of hearts. The ⚾️ highest-ranking straight flush is the
A, K, Q, J, and 10 of one suit, and this combination has a special ⚾️ name: a royal flush
or a royal straight flush. The odds on being dealt this hand are 1 in almost
⚾️ 650,000.
Four of a Kind – This is the next highest hand, and it ranks just below a
straight flush. An ⚾️ example is four aces or four 3s. It does not matter what the fifth,
unmatched card is.
Full House – This ⚾️ colorful hand is made up of three cards of one
rank and two cards of another rank, such as three ⚾️ 8s and two 4s, or three aces and two
6s.
Flush – Five cards, all of the same suit, but not ⚾️ all in sequence, is a flush. An
example is Q, 10, 7, 6, and 2 of clubs.
Straight – Five cards ⚾️ in sequence, but not all
of the same suit is a straight. An example is 9♥, 8♣, 7♠, 6♦, 5♥.
Three ⚾️ of a Kind –
This combination contains three cards of the same rank, and the other two cards each of
⚾️ a different rank, such as three jacks, a seven, and a four.
Two Pairs – This hand
contains a pair of ⚾️ one rank and another pair of a different rank, plus any fifth card
of a different rank, such as Q, ⚾️ Q, 7, 7, 4.
One Pair – This frequent combination
contains just one pair with the other three cards being of ⚾️ different rank. An example
is 10, 10, K, 4, 3.
No Pair – This very common hand contains "nothing." None of ⚾️ the
five cards pair up, nor are all five cards of the same suit or consecutive in rank.
When more ⚾️ than one player has no pair, the hands are rated by the highest card each
hand contains, so that an ⚾️ ace-high hand beats a king-high hand, and so on.
Two hands
that are identical, card for card, are tied since the ⚾️ suits have no relative rank in
Poker. In such a case, the tied players split the pot. Note that if ⚾️ two hands contain
the same high pair, then the ranking of the next card in the hands determines which one
⚾️ wins. For example: 9, 9, 7, 4, 2 beats 9, 9, 5, 3, 2. Likewise, two hands that have
identical ⚾️ pairs would be decided by the fifth card. For example: Q, Q, 6, 6, J beats Q,
Q, 6, 6, ⚾️ 10.
Betting
Betting is the key to Poker, for the game, in essence, is a game
of chip management.
In the course of ⚾️ each Poker deal, there will be one or more betting
intervals in which the players have an opportunity to bet ⚾️ on their hands. Minimizing
losses with poor hands and maximizing winnings with good hands is the underlying skill
that Poker ⚾️ requires.
Before the cards are even dealt, the rules of the Poker game being
played may require that each player put ⚾️ an initial contribution, called an "ante," of
one or more chips into the pot, to start it off.
Each betting interval, ⚾️ or round,
begins when a player, in turn, makes a bet of one or more chips. Each player to the
⚾️ left, in turn, must either "call" that bet by putting into the pot the same number of
chips; or "raise," ⚾️ which means that the player puts in more than enough chips to call;
or "drop" ("fold"), which means that the ⚾️ player puts no chips in the pot, discards
their hand, and is out of the betting until the next deal.
When ⚾️ a player drops, they
lose any chips that have put into that pot. Unless a player is willing to put ⚾️ into the
pot at least as many chips as any preceding player, they must drop out.
A betting
interval ends when ⚾️ the bets have been equalized - that is, when each player has either
put in exactly as many chips as ⚾️ their predecessors or has dropped. There are usually
two or more betting intervals for each Poker deal. After the final ⚾️ interval there is a
"showdown," which means that each player who remains shows their hand face up on the
table. ⚾️ The best Poker hand then takes the pot.
If a player makes a bet or a raise that
no other player ⚾️ calls, they win the pot without showing their hand. Thus, in Poker,
there is a bluffing element, and the best ⚾️ combination of cards does not always win the
pot! Bluffing is one of the key reasons why Poker is so ⚾️ popular.
If a player wishes to
remain in the game without betting, they "check." This means, in effect, that the
player ⚾️ is making a "bet of nothing." A player may check provided no one before them in
that betting interval has ⚾️ made a bet. If another player has bet, they cannot check but
must at least call the bet or drop. ⚾️ A player who checks may raise a bet that has been
raised by another player. This is called "sandbagging," which ⚾️ is allowed, unless it has
been decided beforehand that this practice is forbidden. If all players check during a
round ⚾️ of play, the betting interval is over, and all the players still in the pot
remain in the game.
In each ⚾️ betting round, one player is designated as the first
bettor, according to the rules of the game. The turn to ⚾️ bet always moves to the left,
from player to player, and no one may check, bet, or even drop, except ⚾️ when it is their
turn.
Knowing When to Bet
The ranking of Poker hands is based on mathematics. The less
likely a ⚾️ player is to get a certain hand, the higher it ranks and the more likely it is
to win the ⚾️ pot. For example, a player should not expect to be dealt a straight flush
more than once in 65,000 hands, ⚾️ but they can expect to be dealt two pair about once in
every 21 hands.
Unless a player is planning to ⚾️ bluff, they should not make a bet
without holding a hand that they think may be the best. No Poker ⚾️ player can bet
intelligently unless they know what constitutes a good hand, a fair hand, and a bad
hand. A ⚾️ table of the various Poker hands and the number of combinations of each in a
pack of cards is provided.
The ⚾️ Kitty
By unanimous or majority agreement, the players
may establish a special fund called a "kitty." Usually the kitty is built ⚾️ up by
"cutting" (taking) one low-denomination chip from each pot in which there is more than
one raise. The kitty ⚾️ belongs to all the players equally, and it is used to pay for new
decks of cards or for food ⚾️ and drinks. Any chips left in the kitty when the game ends
are divided equally among the players who are ⚾️ still in the game. Unlike the rule in
some other games, such as Pinochle, when a player leaves a Poker ⚾️ game before it ends,
they are not entitled to take their share of chips that comprised part of the
kitty.
Chips
Poker ⚾️ is almost always played with poker chips. For a game with seven or
more players, there should be a supply ⚾️ of at least 200 chips. Usually, the white chip
(or the lightest-colored chip) is the unit, or lowest-valued chip, worth ⚾️ whatever the
minimum ante or bet is; a red chip (or some other colored chip) is worth five whites,
and ⚾️ a blue chip (or some other dark-colored chip) is worth 10 or 20 or 25 whites or
two, four or ⚾️ five reds. At the start of the game, each player "buys in" by purchasing a
certain number of chips. All ⚾️ of the players usually buy in for the same
amount.
Banker
One player should be designated as the banker, who keeps the ⚾️ stock of
chips and records how many have been issued to each player or how much cash the player
has ⚾️ paid for their chips. Players should make no private transactions or exchanges
among themselves; a player with surplus chips may ⚾️ return them to the banker and receive
credit or cash for them, while a player who wants more chips should ⚾️ obtain them only
from the banker.
Betting Limits
There are different ways of fixing a betting limit.
Some limit is necessary; otherwise ⚾️ a player with a lot more money would have, or would
be perceived to have, an unfair advantage. Once fixed, ⚾️ the limit should be unalterable
throughout the game unless the players unanimously agree to change the stakes. Some
popular limit ⚾️ systems follow:
Fixed Limit
No one may bet or raise by more than a
stipulated number of chips, for example, two, or ⚾️ five, or 10. Usually this limit varies
with the stage of the game: In Draw Poker, if the limit is ⚾️ five before the draw, it
might be ten after the draw. In Stud Poker, if the limit is five in ⚾️ the first four
betting intervals, it is 10 in the final betting interval (and often ten whenever a
player has ⚾️ a pair or better showing).
Pot Limit
Any bet or raise is limited to the
number of chips in the pot at ⚾️ that time. This means that a player who raises may count
as part of the pot the number of chips ⚾️ required for the player to call. If there are
six chips in the pot, and a bet of four is ⚾️ made, the total is 10 chips; it requires
four chips for the next player to call, making 14; and the ⚾️ player may then raise by 14
chips. But even when the pot limit is played, there should be some maximum ⚾️ limit, such
as 50 chips.
Table Stakes
The limit for each player is the number of chips the player
has in front ⚾️ of them. If the player has only 10 chips, they may bet no more than 10 and
he may call ⚾️ any other player's bet to that extent. In table stakes, no player may
withdraw chips from the table, or return ⚾️ chips to the banker, until they leave the
game. A player may add to their stack, but only between the ⚾️ deal just completed and the
beginning of the next deal.
Whangdoodles, or Roodles
In a fixed-limit game, it is often
agreed that ⚾️ following any very good hand - a full house or better, for example - there
will be one deal by ⚾️ each player of Jackpots, in which everyone antes double, and the
betting limit is doubled for these deals as well.
Poverty ⚾️ Poker
A maximum limit is put
on the number of chips any player may lose. Each takes out one stack at ⚾️ the start; if
they lose that stack, the banker issues the player another, without charging for it,
and in many ⚾️ cases, the player can get still a third stack free before dropping out of
the game. (Some limit should be ⚾️ placed on the number of free stacks so that a player
will have the incentive to play carefully.)
No Limit
In these ⚾️ sessions, the "sky's the
limit," but such games are rarely played today.
Limits on Raises
In almost all games
played today, there ⚾️ is a limit on the number of raises at each betting interval, and
this limit is invariably three raises.
Draw & ⚾️ Stud Poker
The players should first
decide what form of Poker they will play
The main forms of Poker are Draw Poker ⚾️ and
Stud Poker. In Draw Poker, all the cards are dealt face down to the players. In Stud
Poker, some ⚾️ of the cards are dealt face up as the betting progresses, so that all of
the other players get to ⚾️ see a part of each player's hands.
Unless the host, or the
rule of a club, has already established the game, ⚾️ the players should first decide what
form of Poker they will play. Two factors should influence their decision: the number
⚾️ of players, and whether the group has only experienced players or has some
inexperienced players. The following selections are recommended:
2, ⚾️ 3 or 4 players:
Stud Poker in any form. Usually, with so few players, only the very experienced play
Draw ⚾️ Poker and they will often use a stripped deck, which is a pack with cards removed,
such as all the ⚾️ deuces (twos) and treys (threes).
5—8 players: Any form of Poker,
either Draw or Stud.
9 or 10 players: Five-card Stud Poker
More ⚾️ than 10 players: One of
the games in which fewer than five cards are dealt, such as Three-Card Monte or
⚾️ Spit-in-the-Ocean. All of the Poker variations are described later in this chapter.
Another alternative with so many players is to ⚾️ simply form two tables and organize two
separate games.
Dealer's Choice
When the Poker session is Dealer's Choice, each dealer
has the ⚾️ privilege of naming the form of Poker to be played and to designate the ante,
wild cards (if any), and ⚾️ the maximum limit of chips that can be wagered during each
round. However, the dealer may not require one player ⚾️ to ante more than another. If a
game such as Jackpots is selected and no one opens the betting, the ⚾️ same dealer deals
again and everyone antes again.
Wild Cards
While most Poker purists choose to play with
no wild cards, in ⚾️ many games, especially Dealer's Choice, various cards may be
designated as wild. A wild card is specified by the holder ⚾️ to be a card of any rank or
suit, such as a fifth queen, or the card needed to combine ⚾️ with the other four in a
player's hand to form a straight or a flush. Wild cards in a Poker ⚾️ game add variety,
and of course, they greatly increase the chances of getting a rare combination such as
a full ⚾️ house or a straight flush. The usual choices for wild cards are as follows:
The
Joker
Note that most packs of cards ⚾️ include two jokers for use in such games as
Canasta. Poker players are increasingly adding one or both jokers as ⚾️ wild cards.
The
Bug
This is the joker, but its wildness is limited: It counts as an ace; or as a card
⚾️ of any suit for making a flush; or as a card of any rank and suit for making a straight
⚾️ or straight flush.
Deuces
"Deuces Wild" is a popular form of Draw Poker. Every two is
wild. Sometimes the joker is included ⚾️ as a fifth wild card. Note that the number of
wild cards in a hand does not diminish it in ⚾️ anyway; thus, with deuces wild, five of a
kind comprised of 10, 10, 2, 2, 2 (five 10s) beats 8, ⚾️ 8, 8, 8, 2 (five 8s).
One-Eyed
Cards
The king of diamonds and the jacks of spades and hearts show only one ⚾️ eye,
whereas the other face cards all have two eyes. One-eyed jacks are sometimes designated
as wild cards, but the ⚾️ king of diamonds is rarely selected to be wild.
Low Hole Card
In
Stud Poker, each player's lowest "hole" card (that is, ⚾️ the lowest card that is dealt
face down and not seen by the other players) is wild. In Draw Poker, ⚾️ the wild card
would be the lowest card in a player's hand. When such a card is designated, it means
⚾️ that every card of that rank in that player's hand is wild, but the fact that a certain
card is ⚾️ wild in one player's hand does not make that same rank of card wild in other
players' hands.
Laws and Ethics
In ⚾️ every game, a written code of Poker laws should be
used as the final arbiter for settling all questions. No ⚾️ Poker laws are universally
followed - there are many local customs and preferences - but the Poker laws on this
⚾️ site embrace the latest customs of the most expert games and are recommended for
adoption. It is a tradition of ⚾️ Poker that any club or group of players may make special
rules, called "house rules," to suit their personal preferences. ⚾️ Of course, any such
house rules should be written down.
Time Limit
Before play begins, the players should
set a time limit ⚾️ for when the game ends and stick to it. Violation of this principle
could eventually turn pleasant sessions into unpleasant ⚾️ ones. Often when the time for
quitting is approaching, the host or one of the players will say "three more ⚾️ deals" or
"through Zane's deal," so that players will know how many deals are left and can gauge
their strategies ⚾️ accordingly.
